Comparing Paris and Rome

Arc de Triomphe

Vittorio Emanuele Monument

 

Da Roma -- à Paris

So I’m going to use this two hour train ride from Le Havre to Paris to catch up on some blogging. Afterward, there’s another train ride from Paris to Brussels so I might use that time too, we’ll see how much I have to say (like I’ve ever been short of that). I’m trying to remember where I left off. I know I put up a short blog last night but I think my last real one was when I was leaving Rome. For all that Rome was for me, I feel that last one didn’t really do it justice with how short it was. I’m also bummed that I was so busy the last week or so of Rome I never really had time to blog about all those last memorable experiences. 

Having that cookout with 20 other people, then all of us traveling to the Olympic Stadium together in a pack to cheer on Roma against AC Milan was definitely a great day and a highlight of my farewell week. The weather was perfect for it, the grill smelled incredible and the atmosphere at the game was unreal. They are so much more passionate about sports here, I love it. Almost too much. They were throwing flares from the Milan side over to the Roma side, and vice versa. I also finally bought a Roma jersey, Totti, obbviamente, numero 10. I’m excited to wear that around Europe now and show off my Italian pride. In Paris from time to time these past few days I’ve heard people speaking Italian on the streets. It’s so easy to pick up and hear now, it brings a smile to my face every time; more so than hearing people speak English for sure. Mi gia manchi, italia!

I guess I should talk a little about Paris. Now, obviously, after living for so long in Rome, and loving every second of it, I wasn’t going to feel the same about Paris. The cities are too different. Now I know I’m going to be bias in part because I felt at home in Rome and feel like a touring stranger in Paris but that’s just how things go. Sorry Maria, but Rome wins. There are a lot of great things about Paris though, if I try to be objective (but where’s the fun in that). The public transportation is incredible, for starters. This is compared to Rome where you would wait forever for a bus or for your driver to finish his smoke break, that’s if they weren’t striking that day. The metro system is incredible in Paris. I’ve never waited over 5 minutes for one and they’re quick, easy to navigate and cover every corner of the city. They don’t rely on buses anywhere near the amount that Rome does. I guess it’s easier to build a metro line in Paris though. In Rome, every time they try and dig a metro they uncover more ruins and have to halt construction while the site gets excavated. Very tedious.

Pizza Vicoletta at Dar Poeta

The food is exponentially better in Italy both in taste and cost. There’s nothing more to say about that. Italian food just flat out wins in every way. Also, historically, Rome is way more interesting. No debate there either. Oh, and the people are much nicer (However, the French aren’t as bad as they’re stereotyped to be, just to let everyone know). Moving right along; language. French and Italian, both being in the romantic language category, are similar in many ways. At the moment, my Italian is better than my French, however, at my peak of speaking French, back when I was a young lad, that peak of linguistic ability was definitely higher than my peak in Italian skills. That semi-confusing statement being said, I haven’t done too poorly so far. The first day, my natural reactions were still kicking in and I was saying si, grazie, permesso and all those other second nature sayings that come out subconsciously. Since then, I’ve actually gotten a lot better though. My French has come flooding back to me I feel like. It’s one of those things where it’s easier to recognize then recall. By this I mean, when I see or hear things, I can understand it, but it’s much harder to spit out a sentence out of nowhere. It’s weird to explain, but once I get going in a conversation and am hearing what they say, and just responding to it, it’s smooth sailing for the most part.

I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty impressed at how much I remember and how I’ve managed so far. It’s funny to compare speaking with people here to in Italy. When I go up to ask someone something here in French, they reply in French. In Italy, when I would ask someone something in Italian, they would reply in English. This isn’t because Italians could tell I was American and French people can’t. No, no. There’s no hiding my Americanness (go away red squiggly line, that’s totally a word). It’s because the Italians were anxious to practice back their English skills on me or were just doing it because they assume that no Americans actually know Italian (which is a good assumption for a language spoken nowhere in the world outside of Italy, unlike French which is spoken in lots of other countries, and even non-countries (holla Quebec!)). In France, I’ve never once been responded to in English despite it being very clear I’m not French. They don’t really have an interest in speaking English back nor are they worried about making the conversation easier for you. I like it though, there were so many times in Italy that I would say “Non, voglio parlare in italiano, per favore”, pleading with them to keep talking in Italian so I could keep practicing my skills. But to sum it up, I think I would get a “tres bon” grade in remembering my French so far.